Captain G. W. Arrington

Arrington was not his birth name. He was born John C. Orrick Jr., and after murdering a Black businessman in his Alabama hometown in June 1867 he went to Central America and Texas, taking the name George Washington Arrington in 1870 to break with his past. As a Ranger captain he led a forty-day search for the Lost Lakes of New Mexico in 1880. As sheriff he shot John Leverton, a suspected rustler, in 1886 and was acquitted on grounds of self-defense. From 1893 to 1896 he managed the Rocking Chair Ranch, and he died at Canadian in 1923.

What the plaque says

Captain G. W. Arrington (1844-1923) Great peace officer of era of early settlement in Texas Panhandle. (During his term in office, lived near this site.) Born in Greensboro, Alabama. During the Civil War, 1861-1865, was one of most daring scouts in famous guerrilla command of Col. John S. Mosby, in Virginia. After war, ventured to Mexico and Central America. Settled in Texas in 1867. In Texas Rangers, 1875-1882, he had an outstanding record in Southwest Texas and Panhandle. With courage and distinction, served 1882-1890 as sheriff of Wheeler and 14 attached counties. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Mobeetie Jail Museum — 0.7 mi
  The 1886 stone jail of the Panhandle's first county seat, the buffalo hunters' Hidetown on Sweetwater Creek that ran the courts for fifteen counties before losing its fort, railroad hopes and county seat.
• Roberts County Museum — 17 mi
  The county museum in Miami's old Santa Fe depot, holding mammoth bones and Clovis points from a 1934 dig, in the cow town that has held a cow-calling contest since 1949.
• Devil's Rope and Old Route 66 Museum — 21 mi
  Barbed wire and the Texas road in McLean's old brassiere factory: the fence that closed the open range, from the salesmen who sold it to the Panhandle ranches it divided.
• Phillips 66 Station, McLean — 21 mi
  A 1929 cottage-style Phillips 66 station on First Street in McLean, the town I-40 went around last and whose Route 66 business district stayed much as it was.

More markers nearby

• Frank Willis, Sr. — steps away
• Emanuel Dubbs — steps away
• Temple Lea Houston — steps away
• Fort Elliott Flagpole — steps away